Before Kamala Harris became the Democratic nominee for President, we only heard about how unfit Joe Biden was to be the candidate. The media constantly discussed Biden’s age, if there was mental decline, his poor debate performance, his overall health, and how he was generally unfit to be President for a second term. But where is the media attention on Trump in this manner?
Trump is currently 78 years old. In 2022, the average male age of death in the United States was 74.8 years. Why was this such an issue with Biden and not with Trump? The average age of Americans in 2022 was 38.5 years old. Is someone 40 years older than the average American really in touch with the American people? If we wonder why there is a general dislike of politics and policies in America and how many feel disconnected from their politicians, maybe we should start electing people whose demographics are at least similar to those they represent.
If we want to get into poor debate performance and answering questions, let’s also take a look at the GOP candidate. Trump frequently goes off on long rants about seemingly nothing and then doesn’t answer the question at hand. If Biden so much as paused, it was time to look into the 25th Amendment. However, when this happens to Trump, it is sanitized to “just the way he talks” or a “jumbled answer.” Just as a reminder, when asked “What specific piece of legislation he would advance to make child care more affordable” Trump’s answer was:
“It’s a very important issue. But I think when you talk about the kind of numbers that I’m talking about, that – because, look, child care is child care. It’s – couldn’t – you know, it’s something – you have to have it. In this country, you have to have it. But when you talk about those numbers compared to the kind of numbers that I’m talking about by taxing foreign nations at levels that they’re not used to, but they’ll get used to it very quickly – and it’s not going to stop them from doing business with us but they’ll have a very substantial tax when they send product into our country. Those numbers are so much bigger than any numbers that we’re talking about, including child care. That – it’s going to take care – we’re going to have – I – I look forward to having no deficits within a fairly short period of time, coupled with the reductions that I told you about on waste and fraud and all of the other things that are going on in our country.”
Why is this non-answer not alarming? There is no talk about legislation in that answer, there is barely a complete sentence.
It seems like there is some discussion of Trump’s mental fitness. It only took a Town Hall turned “dance party” right here in Oaks, PA. But well before this Trump has seemed to live in his own world and has no problems spewing vitriol, hate speech, and straight up lies publicly. From abortions being performed after birth and alleging schools are secretly sending children for gender affirming surgeries to immigrants eating pets and all being violent criminals to exploring using troops for domestic policy priorities such as deportations and confronting civil unrest. He has talked of weeding out military officers who are ideologically opposed to him. But back to the “Town Hall” event that occurred yesterday which made headlines for his impromptu 30-minute listening party and multiple medical emergencies that halted conversation with supporters. Proceedings were paused while two attendees received medical attention, at which point Trump jokingly asked whether “anybody else would like to faint?” He then said:
“Let’s not do any more questions. Let’s just listen to music. Let’s make it into a music. Who the hell wants to hear questions, right?”
Let’s pause for one moment and imagine this was Harris, not Trump who did this. We know it would be all over the news and social media about how unfit, unhinged, and crazy she is; but for Trump it is just “bizarre” and “weird.”
Media and the public should do a better job of holding both candidates to the same standards. If they did, it would be very obvious Donald Trump is not fit to be President of the United States.
